Surveying QEII Covenants

QEII Trust helps landowners to protect significant natural and cultural features on their land with open space covenants. A covenant is a legally binding protection agreement which is registered on the title to the land.

In Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, the number of registered QEII covenants has increased by nearly 6% over the past 12 months. Special areas protected include forest remnants, wetlands, landscapes such as coastal cliffs, and archaeological features including pā sites.

The table below shows the number of covenants and the hectares protected at March 2009.

QEII Covenants March 2009	Registered	Approved	Total area (ha)	Largest registered covenant (ha)	Average covenant size (ha)
Wairoa	49	5	2914	334	54.0
Gisborne	104	19	4389	1104	35.7
Napier	2	0	3	2	1.5
Hastings	77	19	2987	213	31.1
Central Hawke’s Bay	64	12	1398	275	18.4
Total	296	55	11691	0	33.3

Significant covenants recently registered in Gisborne and Hawke's Bay include:

• Three areas of kanuka/manuka forest totalling 39ha on a hill country station north of Gisborne.
• A forest and landscape covenant including archaeological features covering 193 hectares near Napier.
• A horseshoe lake and adjoining land that is a 35ha wildlife refuge for water birds south-east of Hastings.
• A distinctive limestone landscape with podocarp-broadleaf forest in a 49ha gorge system at Patoka.

The Surveying Company prepares survey plans for QEII covenants located from Gisborne to Dannevirke. Two recently registered covenants are featured here.

Te Pohue regenerating lowland forest

Inland from Napier, John and Fiona Wills have protected 112 hectares of kanuka forest on steep-sided gorges on their sheep and beef farm at Te Pohue with three QEII covenants The Surveying Company carried out the survey for their latest covenant in September 2008.

The covenants are in an area which has seen a significant decline in natural areas over the past five years. They protect high biodiversity values including the habitat of native birds such as kereru, a wide range of native trees and shrubs, and the gorge ecosystem.

Photo: Marie Taylor

 

Patoka limestone landscape

A remarkable limestone landscape at Patoka was protected in 2008 with a 49ha QEII covenant by John Kamp. The area includes limestone bluffs with stalagmites, stalactites and columns, podocarp-broadleaf forest in the gully heads and a stand of rewarewa which is unusual for the district.

With a long fence line, the extensive gorge system was difficult to fence. The fence construction was funded with contributions from QEII, the Biodiversity Condition Fund, Hawke's Bay Regional Council and the landowner. The boundaries are exceptionally complicated with the survey comprising well over 200 separate lines.
The Gorges covenant is now owned by neighbours Kynan and Nicola Thomsen who have two other covenants protecting areas of the same gorge network.

Photo: Marie Taylor

For more about QEII covenants, visit  www.openspace.org.nz

Loralee Hyde
QEII National Trust